The present invention is directed toward a cover for an accumulator and, more particularly, toward the combination of a cover and accumulator which cooperate with each other to prevent articles on the accumulator from tipping over.
Product or article accumulators are well known in the conveyor art. These accumulators are used in conjunction with moving conveyor belts and allow articles being carried on the belts to be temporarily stored in the event that the take-away or out-feed portion of the conveyor belt is temporarily blocked or stopped or if the products are, for some other reason, prevented from moving along the conveyor line. One such article accumulator is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,207, the entire subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
As is well known in the art, product accumulators such as those shown in the above-mentioned patent are comprised of a substantially planar table-like surface having conveyor belts moving in different directions thereon. As products begin to accumulate, they abut against each other as they transfer to the conveyor belts moving in the opposite direction.
The foregoing creates no particular problem as long as the articles being conveyed have substantially vertical side walls and are not top heavy. That is, cylindrical articles such as metal cans or the like standing on end will merely push up against each other `s they accumulate but will nor tend to tip over.
Problems are created, however, when it is desired to accumulate articles that do not have vertical side walls and particularly those that are larger at the top than at the bottom. Similar problems can exist when the articles may be top heavy or when they include a cap or lid at the top thereof which may make the top larger than the bottom. Such articles are shown, for example, in FIGS. 2 and 8 herein. As is well known to those skilled in the art, as these types of articles are accumulated, the top of one article engages the top of another and they have a tendency to tip over as shown in FIG. 2.
One solution to the foregoing problem has been to invert these types of articles so that they are conveyed and accumulated with the larger portion at the bottom. This tends to maintain the proper vertical orientation of the articles as they are being accumulated. However, in most production lines, the articles are produced or filled with the larger portion at the top and it is desirable to have the articles eventually delivered in this same upright orientation. This has required additional equipment to first invert the articles before they are fed into the accumulator and to then re-invert them after they leave the accumulator. This procedure obviously substantially increases the expenses of conveying and accumulating such articles and may also have a tendency to degrade the contents of the container.